{"id":572644,"date":"2010-05-20T15:16:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:betanews.com,2007:article-1274380862"},"modified":"2010-05-20T15:16:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T19:16:00","slug":"is-ipad-cannibalizing-windows-pc-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/572644","title":{"rendered":"Is iPad cannibalizing Windows PC sales?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joe Wilcox<\/a>, Betanews<\/a><\/p>\n

About a month ago I asked: “Will iPad cannibalize Mac sales?<\/a>” Today’s report that iPad is outselling the Mac is another reason to ask. The answer may not come until Apple releases second calendar quarter results, to see whether there’s cannibalization or new revenue. Oh, but I can speculate, meantime.<\/p>\n

RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky released a report indicating that Apple is now selling about 200,000 iPads a week, compared to 246,000 iPhone 3GSes and 110,000 Macs. Data is for United States. That puts iPad’s sales rate nearly double the Mac, and that’s with constrained tablet supplies. How much greater could they be if Apple met demand.<\/p>\n

I first saw the report in a post<\/a> by All Things Digital’s John Paczkowski, earlier today. On May 17, Paczkowski answered my question, or perhaps thought he did, with post: “Is the iPad Cannibalizing Mac Sales? Not Really<\/a>.” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster asserted that, based on April US retail sales, “iPad has a minimal cannibalization impact on Mac sales, and could be slightly cannibalizing iPod sales.”<\/p>\n

But I wonder. Sales of a new product category typically come from completely new buyers or those buying the new thing instead of something else. The something else could be Macs, or even Windows PCs. As I asserted in late January<\/a>: “iPad fills a gaping hole in the Mac product line between the aforementioned $399 and $999.” Various iPad models sell between $429 and $829. “Apple now offers portable computers — and that’s how I classify iPhone, iPod touch and iPad along with Macs — ranging from $99 to $2,499. From a pricing strategy perspective, iPad is a brilliant product, because it fills the gap between iPhone\/iPod touch and Macbook without price cuts or risk to the Mac’s premium brand status.”<\/p>\n

The cheapest Mac you can buy today is iPad. It’s reasonable to ask if people who might otherwise buy a cheap Windows laptop are instead picking up iPad. It’s also reasonable to presume that iPad will also cannibalize some Mac sales, particularly as education sales begin to kick in later in the quarter. But it’s too early for there to be meaningful substantiating data, because:<\/p>\n